HOWDY!

Hey dear reader. Yes, its been a long time since I posted anything of personal relevance. And as you can see from my Flickr account, there’s nothing much happening there as well.

Why the losing interest on photography? Its still there, it won’t just go up in smoke. The last band I took photos of even asked for copies of my shots for press releases. And premiere local gig photographer Mari Arquiza met up with me to pass on her high-school camera, a Spotmatic, and two M42 lenses: a Super Takumar 50mm/f1.8, and an impressive rarity, a Takumar 200mm/f3.5. The DSLR is bound to be happy with that adaptable bounty, if only I didn’t discover that my main AF lens has fungus again, and sadly, this time, the infestation is nastier. I called in the local service center and I was told their technician is out for two weeks. So thats more than a month of waiting, including the time for actual repair. Hence, I think I’ll be back to the kit lens for the meantime. Oh, and I took off the vertical grip from the camera as well, and the damn thing feels like it lost half its weight.

So kids, I got stubborn again re lens care, so learn from me: make your own drybox to store your precious camera gear. No, you can DIY it, stop pestering your mom for money. Get one of those airtight food containers, big enough to store your gear (and future gear), a hygrometer (look at mall hardware stores, at the car accessories section), and a dehumidifier (they sell it by pack at those 88 peso everything Japanese stores). That’s less than 1000 pesos, and it works. Yes, I already have one, but being on photography hiatus, I left the gear on the camera bag, and now I will suffer for that mistake. Boo!

What else is up? The past Friday’s have been spent organizing and recording the podcast. Sometimes, I think long and hard why I should bother, but I do think its one project I can look back to and proclaim that what I did was real -for lack of better terms- cool.

Geek stuff? I’m back considering Ubuntu Linux as my main operating system, Windows XP has been unstable after a CHKDSK was forced onto me. I’m only there to backup sms messages and podcast recording. I did figure out how Audacity works on Ubuntu, but the extra step to convert the songs to mono -since copying and pasting on Audacity+Windows automagically converts the tracks to mono- is a step I’m not willing to bother with. Photoshop? Like I said, I haven’t been shooting much lately, so Photoshop is not a big tool now. And I thought my media player/jukebox woes were over with the Exaile Music Player, but it turns out that you get distorted songs if you max out the player volume and turn on the equalizer. Not good.

Work? Been better. And as a rule, one really shouldn’t blog much about work.

The pursuit of happiness? Still an ongoing pursuit. I’ll tell ya when bouts of happiness ever gushes forth in my current hermit-ish realm.

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And I’ll leave you with a music video from Beirut, a band I usually listen to when the blues arrive:

All I want is the best for our lives my dear,
and you know my wishes are sincere.
Whats to say for the days I cannot bear.

A Sunday smile you wore it for a while.
A Sunday mile we paused and sang.
A Sunday smile you wore it for a while.
A Sunday mile we paused and sang.
A Sunday smile and we felt true.